Friday, February 15, 2013

A Review For You: Clarisonic Mia

First, don't run away screaming. Second, thank you if you didn't.

I mentioned back in December that I purchased a Clarisonic Mia and was toying with the idea of doing before/after pictures. A month between the photos seemed like a good idea. I think these are about 40 days apart.

I'll start with why I wanted to get a Mia, aside from the fact that Clarisonic is totally hyped up. I have combination/oily skin that is sensitive, acne prone, and (I recently learned) dehydrated. Acne is a regular thing for me, especially during that time of the month. My skin is on the oily side of combination, and it's difficult to find makeup that will actually stay on my skin throughout the day (hence my recent obsession with finding a nice, affordable face primer).

All the hype that I've heard about Clarisonic touts it as a miracle for skin that minimizes the appearance of pores, reduces the frequency of breakouts, and improves skin's texture. The down side I heard from a lot of different sources is that while the Clarisonic improves your skin, it is possible to go through a 2-week purge after you start using it, wherein your skin purges all the dirty stuff and you get terrible breakouts before your skin looks better.

Before I delve into what I think about it, I'll just touch on price. The Mia costs $119. That's a lot of money. It was a large part of the reason I hadn't bought one until now. But, with a little extra cash from my birthday, it was an easy decision. :) That being said, I think the benefits justify the cost. I mean, I wouldn't go into debt over this or anything. But, I do think it's worth it.

So, when I got the Mia in the mail, I carefully read the instructions and looked up a couple of tutorials to make sure I was going to do it right. Basically, you just smear some cleanser on your face, wet the Mia's brush a bit, turn it on, and scrub your face for a minute. Easy peasy. The thing to remember is that it doesn't rotate/scrub your face for you. The brush head vibrates, and you move the Clarisonic in circular motions.

As unbelievable as it sounds, I saw improvements in my skin within one use. It was amazing, because my skin has never felt this good. It feels smoother, less oily, and my break outs have been more manageable. I still have hormonal break outs, and those probably won't be going away any time soon. My break outs are predictable now, and they don't last as long or look as "angry."

I use this once a day, in the evening. Twice a day would be too much, in my opinion. It'd be like heavily exfoliating your skin twice a day, and that would really throw my sensitive skin out of whack. I've used a few different cleansers with it. So far, my favorite cleanser is the fresh Soy Face Cleanser. It's kind of frothy and leaves my skin feeling very clean without overly drying it. I've also used Boots No. 7 Hot Cloth Cleanser and the sample that Clarisonic sent me with the Mia. The Hot Cloth Cleanser is really nice and hydrating, and I can get it from Target. The sample cleanser from Clarisonic wasn't great. It had a chemical-y smell that I didn't like.

This is (one of) my new holy grail skin care products. As silly as this sounds, I can't imagine washing my face at night without this. My skin feels and looks so much better.

Do you remember my obsession with Cuddl Duds last year? I absolutely fell in love with the brand and wore a couple pieces non stop ....

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